


My Unfinished Spirit

by deepestbluest



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Universe, Established Relationship, M/M, Naruto got adopted and he deserves it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22739494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestbluest/pseuds/deepestbluest
Summary: Coming home is nice when there's someone waiting for you. It's even nicer when there are two people.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 26
Kudos: 367





	My Unfinished Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> I’m positive this is one of those concepts that’s been done a hundred times, but there’s no such thing as too much domesticity, right?
> 
> The title is from "Elegy" by Muriel Rukeyser

It’s been two months since Naruto left Konoha to chase their latest possible clue to Sasuke’s whereabouts. It didn’t lead to Sasuke, but Naruto did get to pet some goats. One of them headbutted Sai hard enough to send him flying forward, too.

So not a total waste.

He’s exhausted, though. Sai is being annoying even for Sai, Sakura looks sadder than she had before they left, and Captain Yamato looks more miserable than he usually does.

None of them has spoken since this morning, and it’s almost evening now.

As he always does after missions like this, Naruto feels homesick for a home he never had but could have.

Team 7 had been happy. Sasuke had been annoying, but he’d been Naruto’s friend. Naruto had thought he’d been Sasuke’s friend. He’d thought Sasuke had cared for Sakura. He’d thought Sasuke had been happy with Kakashi.

Naruto is wrong about lots of things, and a lot of them hurt. Even hearing Mizuki call him the Nine Tails hadn’t hurt like Sasuke leaving had.

Without him- and without their real teacher- they’re not really a team. They can’t be happy like they were with Sasuke, and Naruto knows, deep down, that they’ll never be a team again. Even if they could drag Sasuke back to Konoha, he wouldn’t really be back. He’d leave the second he could.

But maybe he’s missed them. Maybe, if he saw how much they’re hurting, he would remember how happy he was with them.

It’s really lonely without him.

The village gate comes into view, and Naruto’s heart twists. He’s coming home, and he’s isn’t. He won’t be truly home for a while. They have to give their reports to the old lady, and even though she won’t care about the goats, that’s going to take forever.

Naruto just wants to go home and rest for a while.

“Naruto.”

Surprised, Naruto looks over at his captain- the man who’s captain in place of Kakashi-sensei, anyway. He isn’t bad, really. Weird and scary, definitely, but he isn’t bad.

He just isn’t Kakashi-sensei.

“What’s up, Captain?” Naruto asks.

Yamato smiles at him faintly.

Probably smiles. The expression looks weird on his face. Naruto can’t be sure it’s meant to be a smile.

“You can go straight home.”

Naruto’s mood lifts, and he starts to plan what he’s going to do, only to remember why he has to wait in the first place.

“I can’t. The old lady-”

“Leave the Fifth to me.” Yamato’s smile fades, and he looks back toward Konoha with a determined expression. “I can buy you half an hour. You’ll have longer if you run faster than we do, though.”

For the first time since Yamato was appointed to them, Naruto looks at him and sees more than his blank face.

“Thank you, Captain!”

Home isn’t so far away after all.

“And suddenly you find your manners.” Yamato shakes his head. “Go on. Go find him.”

“I will!” Naruto turns to tell Sakura, but she’s already looking at him.

“You should hurry,” she says. She smiles at him softly like she often does now, something she rarely did when they were Team 7. It’s nice, but he’d trade it for their old team. She still could have learned to smile at him like this if Sasuke were here. He knows she could have. “What are you waiting for, Naruto? I’m sure he’s waiting.”

There’s someone who’s always smiled at Naruto, someone who would never leave him behind, and Naruto feels himself smile.

“I’ll be going, then!”

“Goodbye, asshole,” Sai says cheerfully.

“Die,” Naruto hisses, glaring at him.

Sai smiles, and Naruto just knows it’s fake.

“Whatever! I’m going home now!”

He leans farther forward and stops holding himself back to keep pace with his team, putting thoughts of his most annoying teammate aside for the promise of really coming home.

He blows through the gate and past the guards.

He powers through the streets without slowing down, moving too fast to see anyone’s face or hear them speak; he has somewhere to be.

He’s kept someone waiting.

Naruto briefly debates the pros and cons of using the stairs when he gets to the building. Then he remembers how many stairs there are and just runs up the side of the building.

Hopping through the window, he shouts, “I’m home!”

Two men blink at him, one sitting on the counter and the other one standing between his legs. They’re standing so close, their foreheads touching as they smile, that Naruto knows they’ve been kissing.

Not just one person is here; both of them are.

“Already?” he asks as his teachers look over at him. “I just got back and you’re already kissing?” 

The one who’s standing smiles first.

“You’re finally home!”

Iruka abandons Kakashi without a look back. He rushes over and pulls Naruto into a crushing hug, and all the warmth Naruto had started to worry he’d never feel again rushes back. Iruka’s smile is wide and delighted. He doesn’t lie; he’s really this happy Naruto is home.

Naruto squeezes him back just as hard.

Kakashi sighs dramatically as he slips off the counter. “I thought I felt your chakra. You couldn’t give me a few more minutes? He just got home.”

He’s smiling as he says it, though, and when he comes over, he pats Naruto’s shoulder.

“You wait your turn,” Iruka says, his cheek pressed to Naruto’s temple. “I know you missed him, too, but I got here first.”

Kakashi shakes his head. “I could have gotten to him first, you know, but I’m a nice guy. I let you have this.”

Naruto feels Iruka’s laugh as much as he hears it.

“You’re right, you’re right. Come here.”

Ignoring Naruto’s weak protests, Iruka lets go with one arm. The cold starts to rush back over him, but before it can settle in, he’s pulled into a second, overlapping hug.

“Welcome home,” Kakashi says. “Since _someone_ forgot to say it.”

“I was getting to it! You think I’d forget to welcome him home when he’s been gone for so long?”

Iruka isn’t really mad. That’s the thing about him. He’s just really loud. When he’s happy, when he’s angry, when he’s talking in his sleep… Kakashi is quiet, and Iruka is loud.

Naruto adjusts his arms so he can hug both of them.

“Welcome home, Naruto,” Iruka says softly. “We missed you.”

“Your teacher wouldn’t stop worrying about you,” Kakashi adds. “It was really undignified.”

“I always miss him, but only one of us got yelled at for not paying attention to the hokage because he was fretting.”

Kakashi groans. “You don’t have to tell him everything, you know. Just because he thinks I’m cooler-”

“He doesn’t,” Iruka says as Naruto says, “I don’t.”

“You’re both really mean!” Kakashi whines. He ruffles Naruto’s hair affectionately. “Yamato must have let you come home before making your report. He’s growing soft in his old age.”

“Sakura said he’s in his twenties, though. That means he’s younger than you are, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto points out. “Doesn’t that make you _really_ old?”

“I’m not even thirty… And I didn’t mean physically. Yamato has an old man’s spirit. I, however, do not.”

Iruka chuckles. “That’s true. You aren’t old.” He shifts a little, and Naruto hears him kiss Kakashi’s cheek.

Naruto sighs and tries to wriggle away. “If you guys are going to kiss, can’t you let go of me first?”

“He’s embarrassed by us, Sensei,” Kakashi drawls despite lifting his arm and letting Naruto escape. “What a cruel son. Why did we adopt him?”

“Well, he’s very cute when he’s embarrassed,” Iruka replies. He’s less quick to let go, and when Naruto takes a step back, he can see Iruka’s eyes shining. “And he’s a good boy. Not always a very good student, clumsy, and impulsive, but he’s still good. We’re lucky he chose us. Even if he does turn his nose up at his fathers.”

Iruka leans into Kakashi, a wry look on his face, and Naruto feels his own eyes well up.

“Welcome home, Naruto,” Iruka and Kakashi chorus. They smile at him, and they’re so much better than the mom and dad he’d always wanted.

They’re really his. They acknowledged him before anyone else and loved him before anyone else, and now he gets to come home to them.

Naruto’s legs feel a little wobbly after his long journey.

“Your father forgot to mention that he got into trouble with the principal again while you were gone,” Kakashi says with a look of false innocence as he gestures at the couch. “Why don’t you sit down and let me tell you about it until you have to leave?”

“Don’t gossip about me in front of me,” Iruka complains as Kakashi guides Naruto over. “I was his father first.”

Naruto sits down, and Kakashi does, too. 

“You signed the paper three seconds before I did, and you only got it first because you were manipulating the man who had the papers.”

“I’m a very good ninja. Maybe if you weren’t so lazy, you would have been first.”

Kakashi shakes his head as Iruka sits down behind him and hooks his chin over Kakashi’s shoulder. They link their hands on Kakashi’s thigh, and Naruto’s legs feel even wobblier even though he’s sitting down.

“That’s true,” Kakashi agrees, twisting his neck to look at Iruka. “You’re also impatient.”

“Oh, was I supposed to be patient about finally adopting my son?” Iruka raises his eyebrows at Kakashi. “You’re out of luck on that front. If you wanted patience, you should have married someone else. There are plenty of single parents in Konoha if you were after a having a kid without having to do all the hard work.”

Kakashi huffs. “Can’t I gossip with my son in peace?”

“Not about me!”

The tears gathering in Naruto’s eyes spill over, and he has to brush them away before he gets caught.

He’s too slow.

“Ah, you made him cry, Iruka. You’re a terrible father.”

“How did _I_ make him cry?” Iruka asks, prickling. He turns away from Kakashi, frowning in concern at Naruto. “What’s wrong, Naruto? Do you need something?”

Naruto shakes his head, closing his eyes and trying harder not to do something as embarrassing as cry, and Kakashi explains, “He’s just overwhelmed. This is the first time he’s come home to us as his official parents. He’s happy.”

Something warm touches Naruto’s wet hand where he’s wiping at his face. When he swallows hard and peeks his eyes open, Iruka takes his hand.

He’s crying, too.

Kakashi isn’t, but even with the mask and skewed headband, Naruto can tell he’s got the same soft look he had when they explained that Naruto had been added to their family registers.

Naruto lets his hands drop and sniffles.

“Our son is growing up well, isn’t he?” Kakashi asks.

Iruka nods and reclaims his hand. Tears flow down his face as he smiles and says, “He is. He’s the best son in the village.”

Unable to help himself, Naruto mumbles, “Even better than that kid in your class?”

“Maybe he isn’t just happy and you really did make him cry," Kakashi drawls. "That’s not good, Iruka.”

“You aren’t helping!” Iruka looks at Naruto urgently. “If you’re thinking about the boy who transferred to my class just before you left, yes, you’re better than him. There are lots of good sons in Konoha, and their hard work deserves to be acknowledged, just like yours is. But they aren’t Uzumaki Naruto. They aren't my child. You’ll always be the best in my eyes.”

Naruto swallows again, and the couch shifts as Iruka gets up and sits next to him. Naruto isn’t cold anymore, but the warmth of the hug Iruka gives him is just as comforting. He leans into it without encouragement. He feels small, but it’s a good kind of small, one he hadn’t known was possible. He used to think that small things, small people, got crushed.

Iruka doesn’t crush small things. Naruto was small when Mizuki attacked them, and he was small when Iruka thought he was worth dying for. In that moment, for the first time, being small meant being safe in the shade of someone big.

Iruka acknowledged him that night, when Naruto was small and weak, and even now that Naruto is stronger than he is, he still makes Naruto feel small and safe.

“You shouldn’t be so much like me,” Iruka says thickly. “We’ll annoy your father if we cry all the time.”

The first time they faced Zabuza and Naruto felt killing intent in Kakashi’s chakra, he’d felt small. He’d been scared, but he'd known his teacher would die for him. He hadn’t felt safe, but he had felt worthy.

He doesn’t feel Kakashi move until Kakashi is sitting next to him. The hand he lays on Naruto's head is warm like Iruka’s arms.

“I don’t know,” Kakashi says thoughtfully. “So long as you only blow your nose on Iruka, I don’t really mind the rest. Tears dry pretty quickly.”

Naruto coughs a laugh; he feels Iruka’s chest shake with one, too.

“Hey, Sensei,” Naruto says.

“What is it?” Iruka and Kakashi ask in unison, then sigh at each other in unison.

“I’m really glad you guys are my dads.”

Iruka squeezes him tighter, and Kakashi pets his hair.

“So are we,” Iruka says.

“I wouldn’t have anyone else,” Kakashi agrees.

They stay with him like that until Iruka and Naruto get headaches and Kakashi gets up and brings them glasses of water.

“He challenged his students to get creative last week,” he says as he reclaims his spot on the couch. Iruka makes a loud, unhappy sound, and Kakashi laughs. “Your very proper teacher encouraged a bunch of children to make their own special smoke bombs, and they were so bad, the whole Academy had to evacuate. They even had to ask that girl from Suna with the war fan to blow the smoke out. All the windows shattered, and your father had to go in and fix them. It was very embarrassing. He looked very handsome, though, even if I had to help him.”

Naruto looks over at Iruka, and Iruka doesn’t meet his eyes. He acts fascinated by one of the walls. His face is red, and he’s scratching at his cheek.

“Iruka-sensei,” Naruto says, aghast. “You yelled at me for making those in school!”

“Of course I did! You were making them inside while I was teaching!” Iruka gives him a sharp look but subsides after a moment. “This was a planned assignment, and we were working outside. We would have been fine if one of the students hadn’t decided to set all of his off in the middle of class. In the confusion, most of his classmates dropped theirs, so close to a hundred smoke bombs went off.”

“Tell him who did it,” Kakashi urges. “Everyone already knows which of them is responsible. He’ll find out anyway.”

“Who was it?” Naruto asks.

Iruka sighs. “You’re a bad influence, but you’re right about him finding out. It was the boy you were worried about, Naruto. He’s a handful, and unlike you, he doesn’t like me that much.”

Naruto frowns. “How?”

“How? He makes trouble. I had to take scissors from him a couple days ago because he was threatening to cut the ponytail off the girl next to him.”

“Your father is very protective of ponytails,” Kakashi says.

“Not more than I’m nervous about angry Akimichis.”

Kakashi and Iruka go back and forth about Iruka’s priorities over Naruto’s head, and, lulled by the sound of their pretend argument, Naruto falls asleep against Iruka’s chest.

By the time an ANBU comes to collect him, he’s completely forgotten to tell Iruka that he didn’t mean how the kid was a handful. He was asking how the kid could possibly not love him.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](https://asotin.tumblr.com) if you'd like to!


End file.
